Never Too Late
by BlackButterfly0011
Summary: Another normal day for Sakura, as it's always been since her parents and Sasuke's death. But what happens when Gaara shows a little care for her, will it be too late for Sakura to love someone else again? Gaasaku


This is a revision of the previous Never too late. I was going through my stories and got very annoyed that I was skipping a bunch of words. I wrote this at 1:30 AM, oh well.

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Sakura opened her eyes, being greeted by the overwhelming light. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Stretching, she got up and walked lithely to the shower to turned it on, stepping into it and quickly bathing before getting out and drying off to get dressed. Walking to the closet, she slipped on her tight black shorts, purple tube top, & black and purple striped hoodie.

Sakura put on her leather gloves, black choker and wrist bands. She put on her knee high boots and walked out of the room. Sakura went past the many pictures of Team 7, mom, dad, and "him". Tears welled in her eyes as she thought of her childhood crush who was gone. She couldn't help but feel pain for him. He did leave her though, for that she didn't love him anymore.

If only she could have been of more use, not an annoying little drama girl following someone who wanted to avenge his clan. It was all her fault, she could have tried harder to persuade him to stay home. At least he'd be alive if he was calling her annoying and dumb, it'd be worth it.

It's too late now, she can't change anything. Sakura blinked back tears and proceeded down the hall to the kitchen. A big picture of her family hung on the wall above the doorway, and she smiled fondly at the memory of her last Christmas with her family.

It was her 10th Christmas, and she was excitingly tearing her presents to pieces and squealing with joy at every present. Her mother laughed blissfully, gasping soon after when a shiny new flute revealed itself behind the brightly colored wrapping paper. Her father also laughed, and jumped with triumph as a piece of paper announced him head of an ANBU squad. Sakura giggled at her father, and then shrieked as a velvet soft teddy bear landed in her lap. She squeezed it tightly and kissed it over and over.

It wasn't just any teddy bear either, it was one her parents had handmade for her over the spring break, so it was stuffed with love. And ever since then, Sukee has been on her shelf above her bed. He doesn't know the meaning of dusty.

Hastily she grabbed a poptart, sprinting out the door and down the street to Ino's flowershop, eager to buy a few daisies for her dinner table. "Hey Sakura-chan want to hang out today?" Ino said smiling. Sakura looked at her and shook her head. "Why not? You can't keep going to the Sakura fields."

"You watch me." She waved goodbye and walked down to the cemetery, kneeling at Sasuke's grave and whispering a short prayer before placing a single daisy on it and walking away.

She jogged over to the Sakura field, unaware of a set of eyes that were watching her.

Sakura sat down and closed her eyes, breathing in the sweet smell of cherry blossoms. She lay down and drifted off into a light sleep, meanwhile a redhead emerged from the shadows, silently walking over to her to assess her state.

Her senses prickling, she opened one eye and blinked in surprise as a leather boot stepped in front of her face. Sitting up she looked up the leg, past the waist, and to the owner of the leather boot. Sakura gasped at how lonely and angry he looked, but how calm he was too. "Hello?" She asked curiously.

He shrugged, looking around and obviously wondering if coming over was a bad idea. She stood up fast, moving her hands around in front of her and shaking her head, "No don't go, I was just wondering why you were here Gaara-kun." He cocked his head, "Your being tortured."

She froze, looking up into his eyes. "How could you tell.." She asked slowly. He looked away, shaking his head, "Everyone has noticed. The way you pretend to be happy, how you're always visiting your parents burial ground. Kind of hard to not see someone who is supposed to always be happy, be faking happiness."

Sakura slumped over, frowning sadly as she thought about all her friends and how they might be affected by her. "I'm sorry, I just thought if I pretended to be happy, that they wouldn't be sad either. I just miss my parents so much.. and Sasuke. Life tortured me because he died before I got a chance to say 'Wow thanks loser for screwing up my life, I hate you' and then it took my parents soon after."

He frowned. "Why would you say that to him? I was under the impression you were madly in love with him." He seemed bother by that, if Sakura was actually in love with him or not, albeit he's dead. "No, I stopped loving him soon after he left me on the park bench. I pretended to, so I could get into teams easier and then tell him what I felt." She explained.

He nodded slowly, stopping in front of her momentarily, before giving her a brief and stiff hug. She looked up at him, perplexed as to why he would hug her. He caught her eye, quietly explaining, "Oh my bad, I thought you were supposed to give hugs to people who needed to be comforted. Was I wrong to do so?"

She smiled, then wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed tightly. "No, I was just surprised, that's all." He attempted a smile, making Sakura laugh. She brought her fingers to his cheeks, and after a moment of dodging smalls tendrils of sand, managed to pulled his lips up into a smile.

Stepping back, she looked at her handiwork. "Wow Gaara-kun..you look so handsome when you're smiling.." She blushed soon after, looking down at her feet. She knew that loving someone again would be bad, so she took a step back and turned around, having the intention of walking away.

Gaara let out a choked sound, reaching for her arm before she could get farther away. "No! Please don't go, I really enjoy your company." She turned around, biting her lip as she was trying to decide whether or not to make the second move. She smiled tentatively, moving closer to him, quickly stepping up on her tip toes to give him a light kiss on his cheek.

His brows pulled together, "What was that for?" She giggled, "I like you, you silly raccoon." He froze for a moment, trying to interpret what kind of "like" she meant. After a few seconds, he looked down at her curiously. "You like me?" She laughed again, leaning her head against his shoulder, causing him to stiffen.

"Yes Gaara-kun, I like you. Is that alright?" She smiled at him. Cautiously, he smiled back and nodded. He remembered Temari's boyfriend putting an arm around her waist, and hesitantly did so to Sakura. She complied happily, sliding an arm around his waist also and leaning against him.

Guess it's never too late to love again.

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I like the revision..

How about you guys? Review please!


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